Police: Sammamish man dead, son arrested after Pullman homicide

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(FILE PHOTO)

Police: Sammamish man dead, son arrested after Pullman homicide

(FILE PHOTO)

PULLMAN, Wash. – A Sammamish man is dead and his son in jail after police say a dispute between the two turned deadly in a Pullman apartment on Saturday.

Pullman police were called to the apartment on NE C Street, northwest of the Washington State University campus, around 4:50 p.m. on Saturday on the report of a fight between a father and his son. Chief Gary Jenkins said that officers arrived to find the father, 58-year-old Virgil Luden, unresponsive on the floor. CPR efforts were started, and soon they were helped by Pullman Fire medics. But those efforts were unsuccessful, and Luden was declared dead at the scene.

Jenkins said that Luden had suffered a head injury, but an exact cause of death would be determined by an autopsy to be performed this week.

Luden’s 24-year-old son, Erik, was taken to Pullman Regional Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. While being treated, he was arrested for first degree murder in connection with his father’s death. After being released from the hospital, Erik Luden was taken to Pullman Police headquarters to be booked. On Sunday morning, he was transferred to the Whitman County Jail in Colfax.